Mutu-hei

Personified Silence of the primeval void. With Tanaoa (Darkness), Mutu-hei ruled supreme in the Po. After Atea (Light) separated from Tanaoa and drove him off, Ono (Sound) evolved out of Atea and destroyed Mutu-hei — the second of the two cosmogonic conquests from which the dawn-goddess Atanua arose.

Domains

• primordial silence

Powers

• Reign of primeval silence

Relations

• companion: Tanaoa
• enemy: Ono

Sources

• E. S. Craighill Handy, The Native Culture in the Marquesas (Bishop Museum Bulletin 9, 1923); Roland B. Dixon, Oceanic Mythology (Mythology of All Races vol. 9, 1916), ch. I.